Chandigarh, February 18
Naraingarh MLA Ram Kishan Gujjar will have to face trial as an additional accused in the abetment to suicide case registered some four years ago after a local journalist was allegedly harassed to death.

Turning down the Congress leader’s plea against the trial court’s order of summoning him to face trial in the suicide case of Sunny Khanna as an additional accused, Justice Sabina of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted: “No ground for interference is made out”.

Gujjar had filed the petition challenging the order dated July 10, 2010, whereby application moved by the prosecution for summoning him under Section 319 of the CrPC was allowed.

In her detailed order, Justice Sabina asserted: “Although the challan was not presented against the petitioner, the trial court relying upon the suicide note left by the deceased ordered the summoning of the petitioner to face trial as an additional accused. The trial court rightly observed that the genuineness of the suicide note would be seen during the trial. However, there was enough material for proceedings against the petitioner in the trial court as an additional accused.”

On the very onset, Justice Sabina said the petition deserved to be dismissed. Referring to Section 319, she asserted the court had the power to summon any person during the trial against whom some evidence had come to the effect that he also committed the offence and was liable to be tried together with the accused.

The FIR in case was registered on the basis of complainant-father Yash Pal Khanna’s statement, after a suicide note was left behind by Sunny. In the note, Sunny stated that he was involved in a false case and thrashed while in custody in front of Inspector Suresh Kumar.

Sunny had added that his image in the family was lowered, after he was beaten up by Ajit Aggarwal and Meki Lala. The two even tried to kill him, believing him to be dead, they left him injured. The police was informed about the matter, “but due to the political pressure of the petitioner, no action was taken by the police.”

Before parting with the order, Justice Sabina also took note of the assertion that the petitioner was upset with Sunny, as he had started residing with his maternal uncle, a BSP leader.

Chandigarh, February 18
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the Haryana Public Service Commission’s action of imposing a cap of 40 years on applying for the post of Civil Judge (Junior Division) in Haryana.

The development is significant as no less than 72 posts were advertised by the commission last year. The ruling came on a petition filed by Subhash Goel against Haryana and another respondent.

In his petition placed before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, Goel had earlier referred to the advertisement to assert that the candidates were to be between 21 and 40 years of age as on January 17, 2013.

Challenging the upper limit of 40 years mentioned in the advertisement, Goel submitted that relaxation by five years should be given to employees of the state government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court and also the subordinate courts.

The Bench observed the 43-year-old petitioner, working as an assistant with the Legal Aid Services at Palwal, wants directions to be issued to the respondents to allow him to apply for the post.

The Bench observed: “The prescription of the minimum or upper age limit for appointment to a particular service is the prerogative of the employer and no right is vested in any ineligible category of person to seek relaxation in upper age limit”.

Dismissing the petition on the ground that it lacked merit, the Bench added: “Simply because such age relaxation is provided to certain categories of SCs or backward classes, it would not mean that other persons come forward and ask for similar relaxation. We, thus, do not find any merit in this petition, which is accordingly dismissed”.

New Delhi, February 18
The Supreme Court has directed the Haryana government to pay Rs 20 lakh as compensation to a person whose son, Sunil, was killed in an encounter with the Rewari police in October, 2008.

“We share the pain and anguish of the appellant who has lost his son in what appears to be a fake encounter,” a Bench comprising Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai said in its verdict.

The SC, however, refused to order a fresh probe by an independent agency, observing that it would be an exercise in futility as the case record and witnesses might not be available.

The police had contended that Sunil was a dreaded criminal and six FIRs were registered against him. “In one of the FIRs, however, the name of Sunil appears. …It is possible that Sunil may be really involved in all these six cases. It also appears that he was a declared absconder. But merely because a person is a dreaded criminal or a proclaimed offender, he cannot be killed in cold blood.

“The police must make an effort to arrest such accused. If a dreaded criminal launches a murderous attack on the police to prevent it from doing its duty, the police may have to retaliate and in that retaliation such a criminal may get killed. But in this case, we are unable to draw such a conclusion,” the SC held.

The Bench said that while inquiring whether the encounter was genuine or not, the Tahsildar, Narnoul, was “carried away” by the fact that six FIRs were registered against Sunil and that he was a proclaimed offender, instead of going into the circumstances in which he was killed. “But the inquiring authority cannot start the inquiry keeping in mind the antecedents of the deceased. The Tehsildar was in error in doing so.”

Further, the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) conducted another inquiry placing reliance on the Tehsildar’s report. “We find it difficult to accept the ADC’s report which concurs with the Tehsildar’s finding that the encounter was genuine. The High Court has erroneously observed that the appellant has failed to bring on record anything to establish his case of false encounter. All relevant circumstances were completely overlooked by it. In the circumstances, the High Court’s order impugned in this appeal will have to be set aside.”

Also, the state had not followed the NHRC guidelines in such cases. “The two crucial guidelines which have been completely ignored by the police are that the investigation into the encounter death must be done by an independent investigation agency and that whenever a complaint is made against the police making out a case of culpable homicide, an FIR must be registered.” 

Karnal/Panipat, February 18
The elections to the prestigious Karnal and Panipat Municipal Corporations in April/May this year would be acid test for the Congress, the INLD and the BJP-HJC alliance ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, with stakes high for Karnal MP in whose Parliamentary constituency the two corporations fall.

While the issues like resignation of former minister Om Prakash Jain and former CPS Zile Ram Sharma in the former Kombopura sarpanch Karam Singh death case, ongoing war of attrition between Karnal MP Arvind Sharma and Panipat MLA Balbir Pal Shah and allegations of discrimination in jobs and employment against north Haryana set a disturbing trend for the Congress, the fallout of conviction of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and his son, Ajay Chautala, in the JBT recruitment scam would be under test.

Further, the emerging BJP-HJC alliance would be a force to reckon with as the BJP has some influence in the urban areas while the HJC wields considerable influence in some urban pockets.

Before upgradation into the Municipal Corporations, both Karnal and Panipat Municipal Councils had 31 wards each. But now the Panipat and Karnal Municipal Corporations have 24 and 20 wards, respectively

It is not yet certain that whether the Congress would contest elections on the party symbol or back its candidates, but winning both corporations is crucial for the sitting MP to reassure the high command that he still holds the sway in the two districts.

The distribution of party tickets would be a tough task for the Congress as apart from Congress MLAs Sumita Singh (Karnal) and Balbir Pal Shah (Panipat Urban), independent MLA Om Prakash Jain (Panipat Rural), two HJC MLAs Dharam Singh Chokar (Samalkha) and Jile Ram Sharma (Assandh) who defected to the Congress are supporting the government. If defeated, the Congress MLAs' supporters would be denied the party ticket, which could spell trouble for official nominees.

The INLD has gone on the offensive after the conviction of Chautalas, claiming that there was a sympathy wave in favour of the party. The MC elections would also indicate the public perception about the conviction of Chautalas and decide the future of the party.

The BJP-HJC alliance would also have to tread cautiously in the selection of candidates as both alliance partners have been rivals for long time and have serious contenders vying for tickets. The elections would also give an idea about the BJP-HJC combine as a third political alternative to the Congress and the INLD. 

Chandigarh, February 18
The jailing of Om Prakash Chautala and Sher Singh Badshami, Leader and Deputy Leader of Opposition, respectively, in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha in the JBT teacher recruitment scam has put the main Opposition INLD in a piquant situation in the run-up to the Budget Session beginning February 22.

Even as the INLD puts up a brave front, the fact is that the party would go to the crucial Budget Session “leaderless”-a development which would be music to the ears of the ruling Congress.

For the INLD, Chautala, despite cooling his heels in the jail, is still their leader and the party seems to be in no hurry to nominate another leader to function as the Leader of the Opposition.

Though not officially designated as leaders, Chautala’s younger son and Ellenabad MLA Abhay Chautala and INLD state president Ashok Arora would lead the party’s charge against the Hooda government’s “misrule” inside the Vidhan Sabha during the forthcoming session.

Avoiding a direct reply, Abhay Chautala asserted that for the INLD every MLA was a ‘leader of opposition’ and would expose various acts of omission and commission of the Hooda government during the session.

Veteran legislator and former finance minister Sampat Singh said it was for the INLD to decide on who its leader would be in the forthcoming Budget session.

“Morality demands that the Chautala should have resigned after being convicted and the party should have elected another leader of the legislative wing to replace him,” he added.

Sources said the since the choice of its leader was the prerogative of the respective party and was its internal matter, the ruling party and the Haryana Assembly Speaker could not do much on the issue. After the 2005 elections, there was no Leader of Opposition as the INLD had secured nine seats-one less than the number required for being recognised as the official opposition party. 

Chandigarh,February 18
With former Pundri MLA and parliamentary secretary Naresh Sharma joining the BJP here today, the ball was set rolling for political re-alignments in the state ahead of the parliamentary and state assembly elections next year.

Last year, several second-rung Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's media advisor Sunder Pal, joined the northern unit of the Trinamool Congress(TMC) under the leadership of business tycoon and Rajya Sabha member KD Singh. However, within a few months, these leaders developed serious differences with KD Singh and most of them returned to the Congress fold.

Former Haryana Finance Minister Mange Ram Gupta recently joined the Haryana Janhit Congress(HJC). However, the veteran leader, considered to be a confidant of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, severed ties with MP Kuldeep Bishnoi-led HJC. In fact, the INLD seems to be in a mood to woo Gupta withits Ellenabad MLA and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala,s younger son saying that the respected leader was "more than welcome' in his party.

Sources said though the Congress was running a second term, it might find it difficult to keep its flock together in the run-up to the elections. Besides facing the charges of regional bias in development and jobs, Hooda has been delaying the naming of chairmen and members of boards and corporations for quite some. A section of the Congress feels that the naming of chairmen and members of boards and corporations might antagonise prominent leaders, who might switch sides.

While state BJP president Ram Bilas Sharma took potshots at the Hooda Government for its failure on all fronts, other senior leaders claimed that prominent leaders from other parties would join the party in the days to come.

Though the HJC is BJP's alliance partner, the fledgling HJC is yet to make its presence felt in all parts of the state. On the other hand, the INLD has launched an aggressive "oust Hooda" campaign after the conviction of its supremo Om Prakash Chautala and his MLA son, Ajay Chautala, in the JBT teachers' recruitment scam. 

Chandigarh, February 18
Haryana MPs can heave a sigh of relief as most of them got
a thumbs-up from District Congress Committee (DCC) chiefs who had a one-on-one meeting with Congress general secretary Madhusudan Mistry here today. However, certain DCC chiefs, depending on their allegiance, either complained and grumbled about all that was "wrong" with the party or went ga ga over the government's working.

Sources said some of them came up with suggestions to strengthen the party and even suggested the "elevation" of Gurgaon MP Rao Indrajeet Singh as the party president. Some chiefs also sought fixing of "accountability" of MPs for tickets to "their" candidates who had lost the assembly elections. Party sources said most of the party chiefs claimed that the MPs representing their parliamentary segment were in a "winning position". "We were asked about the performance of MPs at length while he encouraged us to come up with suggestions to improve party working ," a DCC chief maintained.

Some party chiefs from south Haryana suggested making the Gurgaon MP the party chief as "he had influence in 22 of the 90 seats. This suggestion, sources said, was put forth even as the DCC chiefs were essentially quizzed about MPs. Some chiefs rued that the party did not let leaders air grievances of their respective areas and "silenced" the critics by sending out notices or complaining to the high command.

While some party chiefs highlighted the extensiuve development carried out during Congress rule, the suggestions included holding of a "chintan shivir" in states as also meetings of the DCC chiefs with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.

Among other suggestions were that the party high command should invite the DCC chiefs to Delhi instead of holding meetings in constituencies for shortlisting and selection of candidates since it was easy for every leader to come back with 100-200 workers to stake his claim to the party ticket.

While quite a few chiefs expressed satisfaction over the coordination between the party and the government, some are learnt to have complained that workers were not being given their due by the government in which the "bureaucracy had the upper hand".

Sources said while Mistry also had a meeting with state Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana, he would meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in Delhi to get his perspective.

Gharonda, February 18
The Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables, Gharonda, has scripted about 350 success stories across Haryana in two years and around 400 farmers, keen to adopt the Israeli technical knowhow and technology, are in the pipeline, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Roshan Lal today said.

Talking to the Tribune at the two-day, second vegetable expo at Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables here, he said 75 varieties of tomato, 14 hybrids of capsicum in seven colours and five hybrids of cucumber had been tested by farmers
who have adopted protected cultivation.

Buoyed by an increase of almost five times in the yield of cucumber, cherry tomato and capsicum, the farmers tried the new technique in the cultivation of brinjal, ginger, tinda, gheya and tori successfully.

The centre for excellence helped achieve production of 302 MT per hectare in tomato, 211 MT in capsicum and 151 MT in cucumber which is on a par with Israel by adopting vertical farming, especially in greenhouse, to derive maximum benefits.

The stress is on increasing the yield with minimum consumption of water (using drip irrigation) and prolonging the season for vegetables so that the farmers could derive maximum benefit, he added.

Karan Sahu, a young farmer from Karnal who has starting farming on leased land, said the centre of excellence also imparts training to the farmers. "The crop is disease-free with high yield, the chemical content is reduced, farming season is prolonged which fetches better prices due to off-season, water consumption is less, fertility of land is preserved with adoption of mixed farming practices," he said, elaborating the benefits.

The Director-General Horticulture, Dr Satyaveer Singh, said 14 small centres on the lines of the Gharonda centre had been opened in the state for transfer of technology to farmers. He said floriculture had also received a boost, with farmers venturing into greenhouse cultivation of rose, garbera, lilium and dalia farming.

A farmer from Monali in Sonepat has emerged as a major producer of dalia flower in the region.

Panipat, February 18
Congress Member of Parliament from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda has accused the opposition of indulging in petty politics and blame game and said they have no concern for development and socio-economic uplift of people.

“Opposition leaders are blaming the Congress for their own sins while the only concern of the Congress is development,”

Hooda said while addressing a workers' meeting at the local HUDA Gymkhana Club after laying the foundation stone of the railway overbridge(RoB) on the Jatal Road yesterday.

Flanked by rivals Karnal MP Arvind Sharma and Panipat MLA Balbir Pal Shah, Hooda was accorded a rousing reception, with hundreds of youths riding their motorcycles welcoming him at the entry point of the city and taking him in procession, delaying his arrival by more than two hours.

Hooda said the RoB would be constructed at a cost of Rs 30 crore and be completed in two years.

Supporting the demand for the halt of a Shatabdi train at Panipat, Deepender said he would work along the local MP and MLA for the development of Panipat and we would ensure that Amritsar and the new Shatabdi train halt at Panipat. 

Hisar, February 18
Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi, who represents the Hisar parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha, has written an open letter to his political adversary and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to raise a problem of the people of his area.

In the letter, which has been released to the press, Bishnoi has raised the demand for the four-laning of a railway over bridge (ROB) over the Hisar-Sadalpur railway line near the Dabra Chowk of Hisar town.

The Hisar MP has also sent a copy of the letter to Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.

In the letter, Bishnoi said an ROB on the Hisar-Sadalpur railway line near the Dabra Chowk was constructed in 1994, when his father Bhajan Lal was the Chief Minister of Haryana.

“While the road on both sides of the ROB has become a four-lane road for long, the bridge continues to be two-lane, causing hardship for the local people,” Bishnoi said.

He said since the Dabra Chowk had become an important place of the town, it had become imperative to convert the ROB to a four-laned bridge.

Bishnoi said he had raised this issue in Parliament as a representative of Hisar. 

Yamunanagar, February 18
The sex ratio, which had sunk to frighteningly low levels has started showing signs of improvement in this industrial hub of the region with the number of girls per thousand boys rising to 846 as against 796, which was recorded earlier. All thanks to a drive launched by the district health authorities against ultrasound centers, which had been violating the provisions of the PNDT Act.

It was only after the initiation of action against local ultrasound centers that the child sex ratio started to improve in the district. The district task force, which had been constituted to ensure that none of ultrasounds centres violated the Act, had found discrepancies in the working of 17 out of 52 ultrasound centers that were operational in the district.

Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said during surprise checks carried out by the task force comprising senior doctors of the Health Department, the authorities found that 17 centres had not been complying with the norms. These were then served with show-cause notices after which 11 ultrasound centers were sealed.

Civil Surgeon VP Mann said more than 15 ultrasound centres were facing charges under the PNDT Act and their cases were pending in the courts. Going by the 2011 Census, there had been a slight improvement in the child gender ratio of the state. As of today, there were around 846 girls for 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group of as against 830 girls per 1,000 boys recorded in the last Census.

Mewat, considered the most backward district in the state, has shown a remarkable rise in the number of girls, which now stands at 921 girls for 1,000 boys. It is followed by Panchkula with 887 girls for 1,000 boys and Faridabad (870 girls per 1,000 boys). Kurukshetra is at the bottom of the chart with just 786 girls per 1,000 boys. 

Rohtak, February 18
The probe into the answersheets scam of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) appears to be sluggish as the police is still to interrogate the suspects and arrest the accused in connection with the case booked a week ago. While the police has taken possession of several documents, including several unmarked answersheets recovered by the officials a fortnight back, the university authorities have suspended 18 employees and officials in this connection. As many as 2,191 answersheets meant to be sent for marking were recovered from the roof of the administrative building.

The seven-member committee set up by the Vice- Chancellor of the university to probe the matter has submitted its report to the VC, suspecting the involvement of several employees of the Secrecy and Security departments in this episode.

Dr S.S. Chahar, head of the committee, claimed that the racket was going on with the involvement of the officials of both the Secrecy and Security departments. He said several students whose answersheets had been found abandoned recently, had told the probe committee that they had tampered with the answersheets at the examination centres only due to help and cooperation of the staff, who allowed them to rewrite to change the answers at that time only.

Senior Superintendent of Police Vivek Sharma said the police was awaiting written reply to its queries about the process involved and the role of the staff in it. 

Faridabad, February 18
With the bodies of two more workers recovered today from the debris of a poultry farm in Mohla village, which collapsed last evening, the death toll has risen to four.

The deceased, who are natives of Jharkhand, have been identified as Somnath, Chanderpal, Suleman and Gangi.

The deceased and three other injured persons were inside the building when it collapsed.

While Somnath's body was taken out from the debris this morning, Chanderpal’s body was recovered in the wee hours.

SHO Ramesh Chand attributed the building's collapse to weak construction. “The pillars caved in due to heavy rain in the preceding two days,” he added.

An FIR has been registered against the owner of the building. 

Kaithal, February 18
A son has unravelled the secret behind the murder of his father Ramdiya who was allegedly killed by his mother’s paramour under a conspiracy five years ago and his body was buried at some place in Baba Basti Cheeka.

Interestingly, no one had an inkling about this murder all these years.

Pardeep, son of the deceased was 12 years old then and sole witness when his father was allegedly murdered with a knife by Satyavan of Kurar village of this district. He had allegedly developed illicit relations with Pardeep’s mother.

Pardeep, who has now turned 17, accompanied by his uncle (chacha) and village elders, went to Cheeka police station on Sunday and told the secret suppressed by him for five years about the murder of his father. The police has registered a case under Sections 302 , 201 and 34 IPC against the victim's wife, her paramour and his accomplice Babloo.

Ramdiya was produced in a Guhla court today and sent to two days' police remand. Satyavan has reportedly confessed his involvement in the murder and his relationship with the victim's wife.

A police team reached the site where the victim was reported to have been buried and the spot was dug with a JCB machine.

The remains of the victim's body were recovered and sent to the forensic laboratory in Madhuban. 

Gurgaon, February 18
A Class XI student has been arrested for raping a girl after threatening her. The boy has been sent to a shelter home by a juvenile court.

The 17-year-old accused, a resident of Buapur village is a student of Government Boy School, Badshahpur, while the 16-year-old victim is studying at Government Girl School in the same village.

The victim said the boy had been threatening her since seven months and had even raped her twice during this time. She said on Sunday night, the accused made constant calls on her mobile phone, but when she failed to answer them, he sent her threatening smses. Asking her to meet him. It was in the wee hours that he allegedly reached outside her house and when she opened the door he pulled her out.

“He pulled me out and covered my mouth and dragged me to an under-construction building where he raped me. I cried for help it was then that my father and other neighbours reached the spot and nabbed the boy,” the victim told the police. The victim’s father thrashed the boy before handing him to the police.

SHO Ram Chander, Badshahpur police station, said, “The police rushed the victim to the Civil Hospital and a medical examination was conducted that confirmed rape. We have lodged an FIR and arrested the boy. The juvenile court sent him to a shelter home, located in Faridabad.”